4-15-21 I wrote this with the intention to send it to my local newspaper but it's rather long and I haven't gotten that far yet. Be forewarned it's not my usual inspiration but it's me sharing my heart.

I am writing about the recent news story concerning people who weren’t evacuated in the Caribbean because they weren’t vaccinated. I have lived in SLT for over 40 years. I have volunteered in many places over the years, such as our local library, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, and the Women’s center/Live Violence Free. I am a warrior for peace and justice, having marched for peace, women’s rights, and gay rights. I have written many letters to the editor in favor of things such as abortion choice and vaccination choice and stopping nuclear weapons testing that often brought strong emotional reactions.

I am also a chiropractic warrior, and a minister. I have publicly spoken out to share with my community that we have within us the best tools to thrive in optimum health and well-being – our immune systems and our power of thought. Both focus on the wholeness within us and trusting in that. Life expresses Intelligence our body also expresses this Intelligence through our nerve system. The purpose of every adjustment is to remove interference to that expression of Life within us and that is why so many chiropractors are so busy nowadays as a prime tool for health. Health is an inside job and as a society we used to trust that more.

You might believe that the Covid virus has pushed us past that way of thinking and heroic measures are called for. I honor and respect everyone’s right to their own choices. That's why the Carribean story about the (unvaccinated) people denied access to safe passage from a volcano eruption, even if it's not completely true, has me very worried. Were you shocked about that, regardless of your beliefs? I hope so. Or did you validate it, thinking “Good, they deserved that” or maybe a little less extreme, “Well, it was their choice not to get vaccinated”? I urge you to be careful of who you might be turning into. What’s next? Will we unvaccinated people have to wear armbands to identify ourselves? Or will we get taken away to camps, our houses and businesses confiscated? I know there are many who say the comparison is ridiculous, even sacrilegious, but it sure doesn’t feel that way to me.

Happily, we have hopefully launched a golden age where it is no longer acceptable to denigrate people based on their sex, chosen gender, sexual preference, skin color, or racial heritage. Unfortunately, we are in the process of creating a new minority that it is acceptable to denigrate, make wrong and isolate from the rest of society (based on “very good reasons” of course). Just like President Trump and the U.S. wall. Just like Germany and the Jewish people. Just like the segregation of people of color throughout our U.S. history. In the 1940-1950s, abuse against black-skinned people was shamefully justified by the very same science we put our trust in now, when it was “proven” that black-skinned people were actually less human, and therefore less smart, and DIDN’T DESERVE. Science (and especially scientists) constantly changes its mind to fit the prevailing theory of the times. This is what we are now using as gospel to base all our decisions about how to handle Covid and that is influencing the consideration to not allow people to attend the festivities of life, unless they are vaccinated.

I understand that there is a belief that unvaccinated people pose a threat to everyone else. We seem to be ignoring the world’s health crisis in the first place that precipitated all this. Maybe our immune systems that were designed to protect us are not working as well for us because we are so unhealthy to begin with. Why are we doing nothing else (besides masks and vaccinations, which don’t seem to be doing their job, especially as there are always more variants) to help the people we say we’re doing this for to be safer, like working on being healthier thru access to good food, clean water, and better housing and working conditions? Why isn’t getting fit, getting outside more and having positive thoughts mandatory?

Many of us realize we were only getting a slanted view of what went on with Watergate, with the Vietnam war, with so many things. Why are we unquestioningly continuing to buy into the current media narrative? I’m not saying the virus doesn’t exists – it does, it’s scary, and it is true it’s claimed lives. I mourn for those lost lives. But many of those folks had underlying conditions, were elderly, led extremely stressful lives, or had traumatic prior situations, all of which led to compromised immune systems. Perhaps if we had kept our most vulnerable isolated and let those of us who were healthier be exposed to the virus, adapt to it, and get through it faster, producing true herd immunity, we would be over this now. But we are still not “safe”. Viruses have an intelligence of their own and they adapt, which is what is happening as more variants show up. And are we going to do repeat all this again 10 years from now when the next virus comes around?

We’ve all just missed a year of our very precious lives. Everything that makes life worth living was taken away from us, from not being allowed to be with our loved ones at their end-of-life to missing our grandchildren grow up. To be together, no matter what, has always been the blessing of family and at the same time, has always posed a health risk to the more susceptible among us.

Maybe it’s time to admit the medicine seems worse than the illness. People have lost their livelihoods, lost their joy, and more sadly, as a society we’ve become afraid of each other and given up our smiles, our eye contact, our friendships and one of the most important things in staying healthy, our ability to touch and hug each other. I mourn these losses, too. And, are we really going to dissect society and eject all the people who are questioning, who think differently, who have made valuable contributions to society in the past (like me)?.

I respect life too much to fight against it and think I know best how to “cure” things. I choose to strengthen my immune system to give myself my best chance of adapting to the viruses that will continue to come along (because that is what they do) by living fully in the moment, joyfully, open-hearted and positive-minded, offering hugs to anyone who still believes that they are a necessary and vital part of what keeps us healthy.